1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper tray for versatile office machines, such as a facsimile, electrophotographic apparatus, or an ink-jet printer, and, more specifically, to a combined paper supply and paper discharge tray that can be used with an image reading and forming apparatus.
2. Background Art
In general, a versatile office machine, such as a facsimile or electrophotographic device, includes a paper supply tray and a paper discharge tray, that are individually constructed. For example, in case of the facsimile, the paper supply tray is generally mounted at an incline to the rear of the facsimile along the upper middle side of the facsimile body. The paper discharge tray is commonly mounted, at an incline to the rear, on an upper rear side of the facsimile body. The original copies to be supplied to the facsimile are stacked on the paper supply tray, and the recording sheets discharged from the facsimile are stacked on the paper discharge tray. Some techniques used for paper-feeding trays and paper-receiving trays, for example, are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,121 to Yamada entitled Portable Facsimile Apparatus, U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,538 to Terao entitled Facsimile Machine Having a Single Feeding Path for Document and Recording Sheet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,552,902 to Kohno entitled Facsimile Apparatus With Internal Mechanism for Conveying Originals and Recording Paper, U.S. Pat. No. 5,559,609 to Yamada entitled Facsimile Transceiver, U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,504 to Brown entitled Copier and Multifunction Paper Cassette, U.S. Pat. No. 5,013,026 to Howell entitled Sheet Stacking and Inverting Apparatus.
Contemporary non-combination paper trays, however, are separately mounted on the facsimile body, thus requiring specialized component devices for installing the trays. Current combination paper supply and paper discharge trays use the same tray when attached to a versatile office machine, thus making it difficult for a user to remove paper from the combination tray without disrupting the use of the tray for the reception of ejected documents. Additionally, contemporary combination paper supply and paper discharge trays will not work in a versatile office machine that is not specifically designed for the particular combination tray. I believe it is possible to improve the art by providing a combination paper supply and paper discharge tray, that can work in versatile office machines not specifically designed to use a combination tray, that can be simply built, and that allows a user to remove discharged paper without interrupting the supply of paper to the office machine.